Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-11-18

f0r
tne want of cheap criminal lahor ' W;t,, LOT
uoubt prohibition hurts business, +" ''nou'
Another great industry has sngo,oa ~
r a",Aeo decline in this city within the mast
s,a VI two' viz, the business of sluoa;no
GU anu highway robbery. Three and fonr
i,ea ago cases Of midnight assaults nnon
oeiu.ed travellers and citizens were of ' H.
guent occurrence. There were oarta;,,
s.reets and portions of the city in VIII oh ~,
unaimed man would scarcely ventura olona
On DARK night. For time there wos 90
a,ous !alk among the law-abiding peonle Of
o.sanlzlng avlglance COMMITTEES to claan
W. .hat proving bandof marauders. They
s sHaoe a., me saloons their rendezvous. and
ha ehe antl.saloon law took effect thew
ha "1e 1tanished. The business" has been
th". nalt' All our citizens can testify to
'uat. Our streets are comparatively safa
now at all hours of the dov and M;, ~ sa,s s
smuggling is no longer feared. az con "ua
TINS marked change makes dull t;mas for
iaepoI'ers and the police, but other peonle
oont complain much. Fe-O
ane IRVING out of that class of citizens
Ia nes 81. undoubtedly decreased the population
VI Iae city somewhat, but the result ia NOT
especially Us, disastrous to those who remain
! naI class OF citizens are now abroad. nlv.
!. ing tnelr trade in more congenial cities. and
theS are OF the sort who most feelinely de-
scribe the disastrous effects of prohibition
on Des Moines. How about other bus;-
ness? o'ne1 ousi-
30 1ar as can be ascertained prohibition
has not injured any legitimate industry or
business = IN any place where the law is
Iialfiy we'll enforced. After the issue of
me ene l9gwnmp address public meeting was
called, and committee of fifteen promi-
nent citizens, headed by Lieutenant Gov
ernor Hull, was appointed to investigate
ana report as to the alleged disastrous eff
fects of prohibition. The report covered
the entire ground of controversy. and
showed conclusively that no class of de-
slrable citizens had been driven away, and
that no honest branch of business has suf-
tered thereby. On the other hand. it was
shown that during the past year, despite
the general dull times and the serious Of
tects of two seasons of unprecedented
drought in this portion of the State, this
city has steadily increased its business and
maze very substantial improvements The
stores report increased trade, the schools
show an increase of over 400 pupils in at
tendance, and more than $50 new resi-
dences have been erected during the wear.
The entire business of the city will this
year overtop any former year in it's history.
~AS NA>S'p
creased savings bank deposits, as shown by
the following table from figures furnished
by that class of banks:
. Sis 935.72
p;i a. ., 1893 391,2ll57
April u, 1855. ...................5 77, 1868. %
May g. 1886, 733 900 ~
May a. 1887. ......................... 900 16D.56
The foregoing shows some Of the results
OF the Punishment of the open saloon.
Not
been an actual increase of the amount of
liquor sold and used in this city since the
saloons were closed. That talk doesn't tit
all the facts in the case. AS before stated,
the liquor men all damn the law. Why?
Evidently because the law dams the out
flow of liquor. They say the forty drug
stores of the city are now dispensing the
fluid as copiously as in former years the
saloons, and drug stores Jointly poured it
out No one believes that story. The
saloons took in over five hundred thousand
dollars per year when they were running.
More than half that amount was clear
profit. Now, is it reasonable that by the
Punishment of the saloon such large sum
has been added to the profits of the drug
gists? They don't show any signs of an
them are secretly violating the law. But
they are obliged to be very circumspect
about it. They do not make their stores
the nightly rendezvous of bummers, and
hold high carnivals of drinking after the
saloon fashion. Whatever there is of the
illicit traffic is SO secretly carried on that
the effects of debauchery seldom appear
in public.
Under the old license law the druggists
were as much suspected of illicit selling as
the most OF them are now, and with about
as much reason. And another fact to be
noted is this: Four-t ifths of the druggists
of this city are clamorous for the repeal of
the prohibitory law and the reopeuing of
the saloons, and the men most suspected
of illicit selling are tho loudest in advocacy
of license. Now, why should they want to
change the law if it is giving them such
inordinate profits? Evidently they are not
all disinterested benefactors.
So from any point of view the result of
prohibition are reasonably satisfactory. If
it be true, as is affirmed, that liquor flows
through other channels as freely as it once
flowed through the saloon, the fast still re-
mains that the suppression of the open
tippling house and place of public de-
bauchery has decreased crime and accom-
plished q vast amount of good. But the
actual truth is that there is not one-ffth as
much liquor sold and drank as beverage,
as was dispensed under the reign of high
license.
The Greatest Enemy of the Col0red
People.
Bishop Galloways Handbook of Pro-
hibition" saws: